City to rebuild two residential streets in East Lawton

The City of Lawton is in the process of reconstructing two residential streets in neighborhoods in east Lawton.

According to a release, MTZ Construction will close Southeast Indiana Avenue from Southeast Kincaid Avenue to cul-de-sac (1,000 feet north of Southeast Fulbright Lane) as well as Southeast Brighton Drive from Southeast Brighton Place to Southeast Mieling Drive. The two neighborhoods are located just east of Southeast 45th Street, north and south of Southeast Lee Boulevard, respectively.

“The roads are not in good shape,” Civil Engineer Shivani Rani, from the City of Lawton, said. Rani said in addition to rebuilding the streets, new sidewalks will be constructed.

While no work had started on Southeast Indiana Avenue as of Tuesday afternoon, with the road remaining open for traffic, workers on Southeast Brighton Drive were busy on tearing up the road, using a backhoe and jackhammer.

The City of Lawton said in the release the construction would be done in two to three phases that would take approximately 60-90 days per phase. This way, an official said, only small road portions had to be closed at a time, therefore relieving pressure off of residents.

A study by Infrastructure Management Services (IMS) that was presented to City Council in May revealed that the City of Lawton would need $495 million to fix all the problems over a five-year period. Nineteen percent of Lawton’s roads need to be completely rebuilt, according to the study.